2024 April Swaps

I love the swaps we do on the message board I frequent.  First up is the materials swap.  It's theme is "bugs" - the bugs I used here & sent to my swap partner are dragonflies.  Here are the materials I sent:

I started with a Little Book (LB) page from Hunkydory's Little Book of Promises and a couple of cut outs from the same book.  To this, I added some dark blue glimmer paper and blue glittered card stock, some pink card stock, a pink holographic piece of paper, and a piece of ribbon - all from my stash.

My Card from My Materials:

The background is the pink card stock embossed with a Darice embossing folder called Damask. I matted it with blue glimmer paper & used strips of the blue glimmer paper for borders top and bottom. The largest mat for the focal was die cut from the glittered card stock using a Spellbinder's die called Grand Decorative Circles.  Unfortunately, the card stock tore as I tried to remove it from the cutting die.  Since I only had the one piece of card stock, I couldn't re-cut it, so I trimmed it out as best I could and used it anyway.  I used plain circle dies to cue the focal along with a narrow mat from the pink holographic paper.  The sentiment was also die cut from the holographic - Thinking of You and More by Spellbinders.  I added the cut out sentiment and dragonfly with foam tape, and ribbon bow to complete the card front.

Inside:

Inside I added fussy cut borders from the LB page.  The stamped message is from Crafter's Companion Compendium (CCC) from the page called With Love.

Materials Partner Sent: 

 

My Card from Partner's Materials:

 

As you can see, I made a center step card.  I used multiple mats - all of the center ones had the middle of them cut out where they wouldn't be seen - so they would stretch as far as possible (the back of the brown & rust colored card stock was the cream color you see elsewhere).  I decided all transparent elements would do best if they were backed with cream card stock (hence the need to save every scrap I could since the rules of the game are that I can add media, but not actual stuff from my stash).  I created a heat-foiled greeting (foil stamp and die from Spellbinders Birthday Unboxing Stamps & Dies).  After gluing the transparent images to the cream colored card stock and cutting them out, I glued the leaves to the front - then added the butterflies and foiled greeting with foam tape.  Last, I added a small bow made of twine.

Inside:

Some scraps for a border - and another butterfly - completed the inside with space for a private message.

An Extra:

I had leftover materials and didn't want to add to my scrap pile, so I decided to just use them up on another card.  Where the first one was a 5 x 7 size, this one is only A2.  Though the rust colored mat under the main focal plaid mat looks like a complete rectangle, it is not - it's leftover scrap from where elements from the previous card were cut out.  This time I did not back the leaves - just left them transparent since there was only one layer of them.  I added butterflies from my stash, more of the twine for a bow, and a Sassy's strip sentiment (added with foam tape).  Quick, easy, and any scraps were so tiny I had no trouble throwing them away!

Monthly Card Swap:

 

The theme for this month's swap was Chocolate.  It could be any type of card, but had to be chocolate.  This is the card I created.  I started with a cream colored A2 sized card.  I embossed a piece of brown glimmer paper that was just a tad smaller than the front of the card blank (used Sizzix folder called Diamonds).  The focal, gold frame, and sentiment were from a Hunkydory Pop-a-Topper set called Ladies Choice.  The rest was from my stash.  As you can see, I backed the frame with a red patterned paper, and created more mats for the focal to increase it's prominence.  Where needed, I used different sizes of circle punches to trim the corners of the card & mats.  I created a border using white card stock, gold tag board, and more red patterned paper.  The sentiment was added with foam tape.

Inside:

Inside I simply added more of the embossed glimmer paper for borders, and a stamped sentiment (Crafter's Companion Compendium stamp page called Love and Hugs).

Digi-papers for April

I realized I hadn't created any cards using digi papers yet this month, so chose a couple and printed them up.  Then I needed to find a way to use them up (would hate to have all my work of clearing my desk disappear so quickly)!  For sentiments, I used some of Sassy's greetings.

Card #1 (above):

I started with this beautiful teal print and went looking for a focal I could use with it.  Fortunately, I found one I had made several years ago that I thought would go well.  It was stamped with two different stamps (JustRite's With Sympathy set, and a small stamp set from Inkadinkadoo called You're a Perfect Cat).  The background color was created with alcohol inks, and the stamping itself was embossed with gold embossing powder.  I then die cut it with a JustRite die called Nested Ovals. I matted this focal on white before adding it to the card front.  Then I created a border with white card stock, gold ribbon from my stash, and a Sassy's greeting.

Card #2:

I didn't like the pink by itself, so decided to find a sketch that would bring the two together.  I chose one of Kendra's Card Challenge#10 - sketch 8 (except adapted for a 5x7 size).  I used this cute kitten (Stampendous Pop-Up Kitties stamps/dies).  After coloring the eyes, nose, and ears with markers, I added a bit of shading with gray chalk.  I added Shimmery Crystal Effects (Stamp'in Up) to the eyes.  I glued the body directly to the card front, then added the glittery fun foam bow before adding the head with foam tape.  The sentiment is another Sassy's - double matted with a scalloped punched pink glitter and a die cut white (Spellbinders Picot Edged Circles).

 

I still had quite a bit of paper leftover.  I decided to chop it in pieces and then figure out what to do with them - something like a two-sheet wonder except that I had more left over from the one than the other.  Anyway, these remaining four cards are what I created - matting most of the elements with black:

Card 3:

 

Here I double matted the sentiment in aqua and then in black.

 

Card 4:

 

This is similar to the last one, but the background is a bit larger, the cross piece narrower - and of course reverse colors were used and the "sketch" rotated 90 degrees.  I used a Spellbinder's Picot Circles die as the 2nd mat for the sentiment to back the pink vellum scalloped punched circle that is the first mat for the sentiment.  I really wanted to center the sentiment top to bottom, but it got stuck in the position you see and I couldn't move it without tearing the paper.  SO, I added 3 double-layered Jewel Dazzles in the bottom right corner to help balance it out - I used the large black ones as a mat for the medium sized pink ones.

Card 5:

I had fun playing with these squares turned on point as I tried to decide what to do with them.  I took my last long scrap of the pink pattern with a narrow strip of black to form a lower border, then placed the matted squares as you see here.  Both sentiments are Sassy's.

 

Card 6:

This time I created a vertical card and embossed the card front before adding the 3 squares/diamonds layered one on top of each other (after matting of course).  The final one became a great mat for my sentiment.  I had intended to leave it at that, but had used some washi tape I didn't like to help me center the pieces - and one tore a bit of the card front as I removed it!  So, I found some tape I DID like and added borders - I quite like them!

Clearing My Table

Today I was rearranging things in my craft room and came across various materials on my table that had never made it into projects.  SO . . . here they are - in projects!

Card #1:

I started with a page from Hunkydory's Midnight Garden Book of Toppers.  These foxes are so cute!  I chose papers to go with them as follows:  Mat for foxes (striped paper from my stash), matted on gold poster board, matted on embossed (Darice Damask 5 x 7) black panel, matted on more gold poster board.  After all those layers were glued in place, I simply added foam tape to the back of the focal and put it in place.  I finished by adding a greeting from Hunkydory's Little Book of Essential Greetings, and a knotted piece of ribbon from my stash.

Card #2:

If you look closely, you'll see that the main part of this card is the "scrap" left over once the die cuts (including focal above) were removed.   I backed it with the floral paper, then colored a "Color Me" greeting for the focal (with dimensional tape).  After embossing the front of the card blank (Spellbinders 5.5 x 8.5 Scattered Fall) I glued the panel in place. Finally, I added Jewel Dazzles in a couple of the corners and called it good.

Card #3:

The background brick panel and leaves (A5 Box Kit from Card Making Magic), and the words (Spellbinders Half Slimline Bracket) were all die cuts I had cut for other projects and decided not to use.  They were just sitting on my desk and I wanted to get them used up.  You can see how I arranged them.  The pink & purple flowers are from my stash - finished off with a Jewel Dazzle center.  Not my favorite card, but something anyway.

Card #4:

I had been given 3 different washi tapes that spoke to woodland animals - along with some stamped animals to go with them.  They had been sitting on my table for some time and I finally decided to use them to create a background and see how it went from there.  This was the result.  The sentiment was another of Sassy's.

KCC14 - from 4"x12" papers

In the past, when I've worked Kendra's Card Challenges, I've used 6" x 6" papers - or to be accurate, 12" x 12" papers cut in quarters before being cut as outlined for KCC's.  This time, when I saw the new KCC#14 for 2nd quarter this year, I paid attention to the mention that scraps could be used instead of 6" x 6" papers.  A while back I had been given a bunch of papers pre-cut to different sizes.  Most were for A2 or 5x7 sizes, but some were 4" x 12" pieces.  I realized these larger pieces could be cut into the pieces called for and decided to try using them this time.  It worked well to cut the pieces out, and was interesting to see how they went together.  I also decided to use another resource that I'd recently come across - Sassy's LCC downloadable sentiments.  Here's a picture of the resulting 15 cards:

Now for a closer look at each:

Card #1:

I actually put this one together a bit differently than the sketch, preferring to arrange the pieces in a slightly different, though similar, way.   I embossed the background, and matted the pieces in purple glimmer paper.  Instead of the oval focal, I made it circular.  As you can see, in addition to the 1 3/4" circular sentiment & the 2" scalloped circle mat, I die cut an additional mat from a light cream color (using Spellbinder's Picot Edge Circles).  A purple ribbon bow completed this card.

 

Card #2:

Here, I started with a dark purple card blank.  After adding the patterned paper pieces, I added a die cut light cream colored mat (cut with Spellbinders Tear Drop Circles).  I added a border made of narrow cream colored paper and a Dazzles border.  Then I added a gold die cut mat (Spellbinders Splendid Circles).  As you may be able to tell, I inked the sentiment piece with a light tan color.  A gold ribbon bow completes the card.

Card #3:

 

This was an interesting layout.  I matted all the pieces with purple, then cut two background mats - one from purple and one a bit smaller from green vellum.  I arranged all the pieces on the green vellum, cutting along the edges and bringing all the extra pieces on the right side.  Then, I glued the green vellum to the purple.  After adding the matted sentiment, I added 3 Jewel Dazzles to the lower left corner.

Card #4:

This time, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees.  After gluing all the little pieces and the embossed piece at the top, I added narrow strips of gold foiled poster board in between each piece.  Next I added a sentiment matted with the same gold.  Finally, I added 3 Jewel Dazzles - medium sized ones layered on top of large sized ones.

Card #5:

This time, I really enjoyed the fact that I had other pieces of papers from this set that could coordinate with the one (border) piece that had been cut specifically for this card.  I found a piece that was mostly green to cut the background from - then embossed it and inked with gold.  Then I found a piece with this beautiful moth, and die cut it using a stitched oval die.  Because the embossed stitching didn't show up well, I ran it through with different sandwiches to increase the emboss - instead it tore.  That actually turned out to be a GOOD thing!  I carefully trimmed any jaggedly torn pieces, then cut another from gold glimmer paper from the center of the piece I used to mat the background - which now served as a lovely mat for my focal.  

The orientation of the moth encouraged me to rotate the sketch 90 degrees.  The sentiment is a strip sentiment - one of Sassy's.  I inked the card stock, then trimmed the ends with a punch.  As you can see, I matted both the border and sentiment pieces before adding them.

Card #6:

As you can see, some of these strips had pieces of orange roses, so I decided to focus on those as I put this card together.  I pulled a golden copper colored glimmer paper as background and arranged my strips so it barely showed through between rather than butting each up against the other.  This meant that I needed to cut my "extra" strips a tiny bit more narrow, but I liked the effect.  As you can see, I chose a golden paper - actually more vellum than regular paper - for my extra strips. 

Again I chose another Sassy's sentiment for a focal, inked it, then matted it in orange (actually had to ink the mat to tone the orange down a bit).  I die cut a circle (Spellbinder's Splendid Circles) from the same golden copper paper to form a second mat for my sentiment focal.  As you can see, I chose to place it in a different place - because of the way the patterns showed up on the strips.  To finish it, I added a ribbon bow from my stash, and punched out three small circles of the golden copper to decorate the bottom right corner.

Card #7:

This seventh card is quite a bit different from the sketch which called for the focal piece to be centered on the background panel, but I didn't want to do that because the pretty flowers turned out to be all on the right side.  As you can see, I matted everything with the golden copper paper - and die cut a greeting from it as well (from Spellbinders Fall Flora).  I decided to toss out the two little piece that had been intended to go either side of the focal when it was centered.  My pieces were pretty boring - just a mottled cream color and I just couldn't see any way to use them effectively.  As I look at it now, I could have used one as a flag below the focal, but I'm happy without it.  As you can see, I added flowers from my stash - some of which I inked to coordinate with the floral background (which looks a better match in real life). The greenery was die cut from scraps with a variety of small leafy dies - most from Card Making Magic.

 

 A border of extras from the card front decorates the inside.

Card #8:

This time I did what I maybe should have done from the beginning - I used a cream card blank.  As you can see, I mostly used a dark green to mat all these pieces and to die cut leaves.  I added flowers that I had made originally for the previous card but found the color wasn't right. The sentiment was another of Sassy's.

Inside:

Again, I added a border on the inside with scraps/leftovers.

Card #9:

For this layout, it was expected that you would create a scene on a 3 3/4" square.  I decided to look through other pieces from the same paper pad to see if I could find something that would work for a focal.  As you can see, I found it, and matted it on lavender card stock.  I finished by adding a matted sentiment and a crepe ribbon bow.

Card #10:

I found a green that would work reasonably well to mat all my pieces.  I cut and embossed a background piece from cream colored glimmer paper (Spellbinders M-Bossabilities 5x7 Imperial) and matted it in the same green.  After adhering the background, I glued the diamonds in place as you can see.  After creating and adding the matted sentiment (Sassy's) with foam tape, I filled the upper left corner with flowers and die cut greenery (misc dies - mostly from Card Making Magic).  After adding Jewel Dazzles as flower centers, I added more Jewel Dazzles in the lower right corner.

Inside:

I created a border using similar pieces as what I had on the card front.

Card #11:

As you can see, I used gold glimmer paper in the background and golden copper glimmer card stock for matting (except for the buttons - die set is Nellie's Multiframes Flower).  I used an aqua piece of card stock for other pieces - and inked the cream colored piece I stamped with a sentiment (JustRite's Be Strong stamp set).  I added a piece of gold doily to decorate the aqua piece of card stock.

Card #12:

This is based on a pretty straight forward layout.  To the cut patterned papers, I added gold vellum from my stash, and an embossed circle of lightly speckled paper (Lifestyle's Circle dies, Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder). The sentiment was again from a Sassy's set.  Because of the topic mentioned in the sentiment, I went looking for a piece of pizza from my stash.  This made for a nice card, but clearly needed more.  I used red Jewel Dazzles to mimic the pepperoni on the pizza - and to complete the layout as per the sketch.  It still felt incomplete.  I found some corner stickers and added two of them.  That helped, but the card still didn't feel complete.  Then I thought to add a jute bow.  That was what was needed to complete the card.

Card #13:

Sketch #13 was a bit challenging for me to know how to decorate.  I embossed the aqua panel (card stock from my stash - Fun Stampers Journey embossing folder called Brocade) and matted it on gold vellum.  The patterned paper pieces were also matted with the gold, while the sentiment and piece behind it were both additionally matted on purple.  The sentiment is another Sassy's one.  Then, I added a 3D butterfly sticker from my stash and purple Jewel Dazzles (used Sharpie around the edge to turn it gold instead of silver).

Card #14:

 

Next up I have a hummingbird card - with hummingbird fussy cut from coordinating papers from what I was using for this set of cards.  I chose to use gold vellum for the background paper.  Then I looked at the scrap of lavender card stock that I had sitting in front of me.  It was too small to mat the focal frame, and had a punched scalloped circle out of the center of it.  I decided to cut narrow strips from it (to form the frame-like strips you see on the square and on the border), then I glued the remaining piece behind the frame and added the hummingbird with foam tape.  After adding the strips to the border piece and gluing it in place, I matted the little banner to the top of it - and then a sentiment with foam tape (from Hunkydory Little Book of Essential Sentiments).

Card #15:

 

This final card uses lavender and aqua card stock from my stash to back the matted printed paper pieces.  The sentiment was cut using a die from a Spellbinder's die set called Half Slimline Diamond.  The greenery was cut using dies from a couple of Card Making Magic sets (5x7 Card and Box set, Ultimate Number and Overlay).  After adding the greenery, I added some flowers from my stash (after inking some of them to turn them lavender) and gold Jewel Dazzles for the flower centers.

March Swaps 2024

This month's materials swap is "Spring", and this is the card I made.  Made from the following materials:

This started with a card base and envelope.  The focal, frames, and sentiment are from Hunkydory's Pop-a-Topper called Fabulous Florals.  I added a piece of AS (HD's Adoreable Scoreable foiled card stock).  A piece of gold foiled card stock, two pieces of glimmer paper (blue & green) and foiled acetate.  To that I added a small paper doily, a piece of ribbon, and a small baggie of little flowers, sequins, and other misc little bits.  

My Card:

As you can see, I created a center step shaker card with a bit of a border created with a strip of gold foiled card stock and blue glimmer paper.  The foiled AS makes a great backdrop.  Using the focal die cuts & frame - along with a small piece of acetate - I created a shaker focal.  This was matted on a doily and a gold foil mat - die cut with a die from Card Making Magic's Octagon Box Kit.  I added a ribbon bow and a cluster of little flowers from my stash with greenery die cut from the green glimmer paper using Card Making Magic's 5 x 7 Card & Box Set. 

Materials Swap - Swap Partner's Materials:

The white piece of card stock is a deeply embossed basket weave pattern.  As you can see, there were also a lot of die cuts.  Here's the card I made using these materials:

I wanted a bow to hold the bouquet together, but there was no ribbon included and the only card stock I had was from the dark green piece I'd cut from the inside hidden part of the mat behind the white background.  So, that's what I had to use.  I stamped and die cut the ribbon using a stamp and die from Stampendous sets called Pop-up Kitties.

Card Swap Card sent (amphibians):

 

The background for this fun card was printed from a digital download and matted with green glimmer paper.  The frog die cut set (frog, lily pad, lake splash) was from Elizabeth Crafts - all die cut in white card stock and then inked around the edges.  I matted the splash on white card stock.  The sentiment was a cut out from another download.  The greenery is all die cut from green glimmer paper (dies from Card Making Magic - 5x7 Card & Box, Ultimate Number and Overlay, & ???).

HD Perfect Days - Hedgehogs

Hunkydory's Perfect Days is the card kit from which this set of cards comes - the set is called simply Hedgehogs.  

This is what the set looked like before I started using it:

As you may be able to see, there was one an a half sheets of cut outs and one piece of AS (Adoreable Scoreable printed card stock).  To this I added pieces from my stash - ribbon, pink vellum, blue marbled paper, Thin Line Dazzles.

Here's a picture of the 6 cards I made from these materials:

Next up is a close up of each card.

Card #1:

I started by slicing the picture from the AS.  Then I sliced this and inserted a narrow scrap of leftover AS from another project - then covered it with green ribbon before gluing it to the front of the card blank.  I added a scrap of yellow print from the die cut scraps and a sentiment from the set.

Inside:

Inside, I created borders in a similar way to the one on the card front - then added a couple of small die cuts.  The sentiment was stamped with a Crafter's Companion Compendium (CCC) stamp from the sheet called Birthday Female.

Card #2:

This card used the base die cut.  I wanted the card to reflect the shape, so used a circle die to cut the top of it - putting the bottom of the cutting die behind the card so it didn't cut there.  It might have been better to just leave the cutting die in place on top and just align the top cutting pad to keep it from cutting the remainder (because it embossed the lower edge into the card itself).  At any rate, I did the  same thing to the yellow piece of the AS.  I glued the AS to the card front, then added the focal with foam tape.  The sentiment was a strip sentiment from Sassy's LLC - matted with a scrap of gold card stock.

Inside:

A narrow border from green glimmer paper is enhanced with the little hedgehogs die cut.

Card #3:

This time I took one of the die cuts and completed the scene by adding blue marble paper behind it to form sky.  I added a sentiment from the set at the top and die cut corners to form a bit of an arch.  Finally, I added a little die cut bird in the "sky" of the scene.

Inside:

I decorated the lower right corner with a scrap of green glimmer paper and a couple of die cuts.

Card #4:

Once again, I took the a die cut and added "sky" behind it.  Next I added Thin Line Dazzles around the scene before adding the border and sentiment.  The border was created with pink vellum wrapped around a strip of white card stock.  The sentiment (Sassy's LLC) was matted on a pink vellum mat backed with white card stock (both punched with a scalloped circle punch.

Inside:

Again, I created a border from green glimmer paper and completed it with a die cut from the set.

Card #5:

Another die cut with blue marble background sky is matted on black and then yellow checked AS.  The sentiment is another Sassy's LLC matted with a punched scalloped circle background (the same yellow checked AS).

Card #6:

This last is another die cut with blue marbled background.  This time I inked the edges in black and then matted it on yellow checked AS, black, paper, and then green and yellow plaid from my stash.  I made a border of AS, two border strips from the set.  The sentiment is a printed strip from Sassy's LLC - inked with green ink.